Central Skagit Library District

A breath of Bombay hope, in the first glimpse of the sea, on Marine Drive, filled my heart, if not my head. I turned away from the red shadow. I stopped thinking of that pyramid of killers, and Sanjay's recklessness. I stopped thinking about my own part in the madness. And I rode, with my friends, into the end of everything.' The end of the eighties was the beginning of everything. The Berlin wall fell on a ruined empire, and the Taliban took Afghanistan....

"For fans of Shuggie Bain and A Burning, a queer coming-of-age novel set in 1990s India, about a young man who joins a traveling theater troupe Shagun knows he will never be the kind of son his father demands. After the sudden deaths of his beloved twin sisters, Shagun flees his own guilt, his mother's grief, and his father's violent disapproval by enrolling at an all-boys boarding school. But he doesn't find true belonging until he encounters a traveling...

The first kidnapping wasn’t my fault. The others—those were definitely me. Brilliant yet poor, Ramesh Kumar grew up working at his father’s tea stall in the Old City of Delhi. Now, he makes a lucrative living taking tests for the sons of India's elite—a situation that becomes complicated when one of his clients, the sweet but hapless eighteen-year-old Rudi Saxena, places first in the All Indias, the national university...

A provocative portrait of one of the world's largest cities, delving behind the tourist facade to illustrate the people and places beyond the realms of the conventional travelogue Sam Miller set out to discover the real Delhi, a city he describes as "India's dreamtown-and its purgatory." He treads the city streets, making his way through the city and its suburbs, visiting its less celebrated destinations-Nehru Place, Rohini, Ghazipur, and Gurgaon-which...

The heroic story of how Sherpas stood up and took control of their destiny Ever since Europeans started exploring the world's highest mountains and trying to reach their summits in the early 20th century, Sherpas have been an integral part of mountaineering expeditions to the Himalayas. In this anthology curated from his popular Footsteps on the Mountain blog, Mark Horrell explores the evolution of Sherpa mountaineers, from the porters of early expeditions...

"Watch elephants bathing from a houseboat in Kerala, marvel at ancient cave paintings in Bhimbetka, wander Delhi's bustling streets, and ride a train through the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas. In spread after colorful spread, India's breathtaking landscapes, rich history, and cultural splendor leap to life on the page, framed by the story of a little girl named Thara and her grandmother. In a carved wooden trunk, Nanijee keeps mementos collected...

As a boy, Jadav Payeng was distressed by the destruction deforestation and erosion was causing on his island home in India's Brahmaputra River. So he began planting trees. What began as a small thicket of bamboo, grew over the years into 1,300 acre forest filled with native plants and animals. The Boy Who Grew a Forest tells the inspiring true story of Payeng--and reminds us all of the difference a single person with a big idea can make.

How was reputed 19th century big game hunter Sir Samuel Baker finally able to vanquish a man-eating tiger that had terrorized villagers in India for years? In 1891, Sir Samuel Baker published a short 30-page narrative of his many tiger hunting adventures in India under the title "Tigers and Tiger Hunting." It is this writing that has been republished here for the convenience of the interested hunter.

Interest in India has never been greater. Here Shashi Tharoor, one of the subcontinent's most respected writers and diplomats, offers precious insights into this complex, multifaceted land, which despite its dazzling diversity of languages, customs, and cultures remains-more than sixty years after its founding-the world's largest democracy. He describes the vast changes that have transformed this once sleeping giant into a world leader in science...

'A tour de force of luminous writing.' Mark Cocker, Spectator In 1976 James Crowden left his career in the British army and travelled to Ladakh in the Northern Himalaya, one of the most remote parts of the world. The Frozen River is his extraordinary account of the time he spent there, living alongside the Zangskari people, before the arrival of roads and mass tourism. James immerses himself in the Zangskari way of life, where meditation and week-long...